[Macbook + Firestorm upgrade 68380 = Overheating + battery]

4 hours ago, gwynchisholm said:

You may have a faulty battery or didnt get that battery conditioned properly after it was installed. The system is going to draw any more power under load than its capable of normally. SL in any viewer will absolutely max out a crystalwell i7 quadcore and draw as much power as the system will let it. 

Getting that error that your system cant charge faster than its discharging means power delivery degradation or battery degradation. Or it may be throttling its power delivery due to being too hot, that can be caused by a variety of things but redoing thermal paste/pads on the cpu and power delivery components can help with that. This is a hardware issue, no viewer or settings will fix that. You need to get your laptop serviced if youre not down to do that kind of work yourself. Though the 2015 mbp's are fairly easy to work on as far as macbooks go.

I have a 2015 i5 retina mbp and its absolutely a little toaster oven if the paste has dried up or if theres a contact issue.

Interesting you suggest the battery may be faulty. I'm unsure how to "condition it properly" (when they installed it I got NO instructions! The other one lasted for years. I had never even seen the icon with the power cord on it! And as I think about it...I did get the new battery before I returned to SL...so you may be spot on. It's not the viewer...it's the battery! Unsure what "redoing thermal paste/pads on CPU" means (off to google that one). 

Everyone seems to be in agreement, despite my feelings about it being a viewer issue, it is more likely a recent Hardware issue. I'm so grateful for your patience and advice. I'm taking notes and will bring a LONG list to the apple store!!
Thank you again for such a detailed response. Despite being in SL a very long time, I'm new to this forum (apologies about the "quotation" thing- was unable to sort out how to just repond w/out your statment. 
Take care,

Skye

[Macbook + Firestorm upgrade 68380 = Overheating + battery]

3 hours ago, gwynchisholm said:

 

these are not hard MacBooks to get into, to at least figure out what’s going on, no weird clip tabs or glue like later models, at least on the board half 

but if you’re not good with the idea of doing it yourself, it’s a pretty quick and easy job for any computer repair center, a lot more friendly of a device to work on than say, the m1/2/3 MacBooks are

 

I used to tinker with older macbooks - nothing huge, could change ram, replace batteries (before they glued everything down). Clearly I need to hit the store. As silly and sentimental as this is, I do love my Macbook-it is wonderful in all other areas of my life. I do appreciate you and everyone not screaming about buying a PC...I'll try and get an appt this week and post when I have some clarity!

 

[Macbook + Firestorm upgrade 68380 = Overheating + battery]

9 hours ago, AmeliaJ08 said:

When running Firestorm the fan definitely should spin up although it doing it immediately does suggest that the laptop needs servicing. Heatsinks are likely clogged/thermal paste needs replaced. You can do this pretty easily yourself if you are able (there's countless guides and these are easy machines to service) but if not then any electronics repair shop will do it for a small fee.

The other symptom points to a failing charger though, when the GPU is active your laptop draws more power and clearly the charger is unable to provide all the power it needs which is why you get the message and why your battery is being drained. Replacing the AC adapter will possibly fix this condition but there are some other potential faults that could be causing it, I would try a new (or used) charger first but it might be something that you need to take to a repair shop.

Both problems point to hardware issues, it has nothing to do with Firestorm (or any other software) and the machine likely needs some servicing and possibly repair. It's all possible and likely not expensive to fix.

 

 

 

Thank you for giving me such detailed things to look in to. After I read a number of the replies I think my 'puter and I need to get a check up at the apple store (luckily they don't charge for labor, only parts). Hopefully they can determine if I have a faulty battery, need a new AC adapter. to get a blow out or ...something else.  Thanks so much for all the time you put into your response.

[Macbook + Firestorm upgrade 68380 = Overheating + battery]

11 hours ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

Chances are that there's not really anything wrong with your Macbook, but as a computer ages some "consumable" parts wear out, notably things like thermal pads and thermal grease, used to connect the heat-generating parts of the computer to cooling.

 

Thanks so much for the advice...I think I need to pop to an apple store and see if they can blow it out and "look under the hood" a bit. I appreciate all of your thoughts!

[Macbook + Firestorm upgrade 68380 = Overheating + battery]

 

I have an old Macbook Pro 2015  (stats below) and have used it on SL via firestorm with NO problems.

I was off SL for a few years, came back this summer (2023).

I upgraded Firestorm to  6.6.8  (68380). 

Since then EVERY time I go on SL (or even go ON to the FS app BEFORE even signing in) my fan kicks in and my brand new battery drops down fast-then I get an icon saying the power cord is unable to charge the battery (assuming bc it's too hot) A full battery  (I bought it 5 months ago) is sucked down to empty in less than 20 min!

A friend loaned me a PC laptop so I could access SL but I'm not happy with the mouse pad transition (please no judgement-I have severe RA in my hands, the PC mouse is just harder for me).

So I know it is MY MACBOOK + this version of FS because this was not a problem before.

1.Any suggestions for a different viewer to reduce this problem? 

2. Is it possible to reinstall an earlier version of FS? I am not sure what version I was on I assume it would be from 2019 ish? I'm not sure they have FS from that long ago.

 

PC Folks- I get it. Get a PC. I'm gently asking if there is any other option with my computer.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Macbook Pro (Retina, 15" mid 2015)

Processor 2.2 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600MHz

Intel Iris Pro 1536

Monterey OS